Suspect Who Left Hospital Surrenders : Crime: Doctors at the Mission Viejo facility say the Riverside Sheriff’s Department didn’t arrest the man, wanted in connection with armed robberies, because it did not want to be saddled with a $38,000 medical bill.

A Riverside County man, wanted in connection with a string of armed robberies, surrendered to authorities Thursday--a month after he walked out of a Mission Viejo hospital despite repeated requests by doctors to have him arrested.

The escape of 24-year-old Anthony Garcia of Sun City had outraged doctors and hospital administrators, who charged that the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department failed to arrest him because it did not want to be saddled with his $37,964 hospital bill.

Garcia entered Perris Municipal Court on crutches with a small entourage including his sobbing parents, his attorney and a handful of friends to turn himself over to Riverside County sheriff’s detectives.

Garcia was being held on $300,000 bail in Riverside County Jail. He is expected to undergo a series of tests to determine whether he should be transferred to the jail ward at Riverside General Hospital, according to his attorney, Henry P. Rupp.

On Nov. 13, Garcia was wearing a hospital robe when he walked out of Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center on crutches and into a friend’s truck.

Hospital administrators and doctors charged that the incident represented a common practice by law enforcement agencies nationwide to avoid liability for suspects’ medical bills. They also said that hospital employees were in personal jeopardy as long as Garcia was not under arrest.

Sheriff’s officials have repeatedly denied that they were responsible for the getaway but acknowledged that a series of mix-ups led to Garcia’s being allowed to go free.

Garcia was admitted to the hospital with a broken hip Oct. 26, the day he allegedly rammed a stolen truck into a van driven by Richard E. Wheatfill, a San Juan Capistrano dentist. Wheatfill, a father of five who was heading to a Boy Scout camp, remains hospitalized at Saddleback Memorial Medical Center in Laguna Hills, where he is undergoing therapy for numerous injuries suffered in the crash.

The crash on Ortega Highway east of San Juan Capistrano happened minutes after Garcia had allegedly robbed a motorist at gunpoint in Lake Elsinore in Riverside County.

Sheriff’s detectives said Garcia was wanted in connection with a weeklong crime spree in October, during which he allegedly used an automatic handgun to rob two convenience stores, steal two cars and threaten to kill at least two victims.

On Thursday, his attorney said his client plans to plead not guilty to three counts of armed robbery, two counts of auto theft and one count of felony drunk driving.

Rupp said that Garcia left the hospital to recuperate at an undisclosed location and that the publicity made his client “afraid to turn himself in.”

Rupp insisted that Garcia was not to blame for leaving the hospital. He said Garcia left “not as an escapee but because he was not aware that he was under arrest. He certainly has not been charged with any escape.”

Dr. Thomas Shaver, head of the trauma center at the Mission Viejo hospital, said he was happy that Garcia was no longer a fugitive.

“But as a physician, this has not been an issue of his being caught or turning himself in,” Shaver said. “My only issue was the people who are put at risk. From a legal standpoint, Garcia and others like him should have proper attention from the police when they are incarcerated in any manner. My issue is that he was put in our hospital with the police knowing how dangerous he was. They put our hospital personnel in danger.”

“I’m glad it’s over with,” said Riverside County Sheriff’s Lt. Bill Caldwell. “He will go to a jail ward this time, I can assure you.”